The Finest Hours

Very interesting, if somewhat frustratingly limited documentary biography of Winston Churchill. It's not really the film's fault. It's well made and intelligent. It's just that Churchill lived such a full and fascinating life, that trying to jam it all into an under 2 hour film means that much has to be ignored or sped through.

So in most areas we get the reader's digest version. Only the war years get a little more detail. But we get almost nothing about Churchill the human being, the husband, the father.

Huge changes in his political career are handled with a few sentences and a couple of images.

Yet I was never bored, and still ended up knowing much more about both Churchill and Britain in the war years than when I started.

Although Orson Welles, Patrick Wymark, and Sir Winston Churchill merit top billing for this fine documentary, not to be forgotten is the writer of the screenplay, Victor Wolfson. Mr. Wolfson also played a major role in selecting the documentary footage that is so skillfully woven through this film. In the art of movies and television it's easy to forget - as my father used to say - that without a writer to deliver a good screenplay you have nothing. In THE FINEST HOURS, the voice-over narrative is concise and dramatic. The language of the screenplay enhances but never gets in the way; it works seamlessly with the film's often stunning and rare visuals, and achieves an excellent harmony with the words of Churchill himself. The film is a fast-moving, dramatic, economical but complete overview of Churchill's marvelous life and times.

I saw the movie when it first came out in late 1964 and then bought the sound track. It provides a moving story of Churchill's life and includes many of his famous quotes. Also shows his relationship with Roosevelt during World War II. The music is also great.

The previous reviewer summed it up pretty well. I don't have much to add except that the DVD I watched was in bad shape and Orson Welles, he of the resonant baritone, sounded scratchy. The speaker who imitates Churchill's voice in the quotations isn't too convincing, despite the distinctive qualities of both Churchill's speech and his writing. After half an hour's practice, I could do almost as well.

The DVD was part of a 3-disc set. The first disc is a rough history of Churchill and his career, using stills photos and newsreel footage. The other two discs are of Churchill's speeches, always thoughtful, always rousing in one way or another. They recall the days when statesmen like Churchill and Lincoln could both read and write.